Gaming Meets Blockchain: Will It Transform Gaming in 2023?

In his first book, “The Metaverse and How It Will Revolutionize Everything”,1 the CEO of Epyllion, Matthew Ball, writes that at a large enough scale, even the most successful pre-blockchain gaming developers, like Activision Blizzard, Ubisoft, and Electronic Arts, will find the technology financially tempting and competitively important. According to the website,

• Epyllion is the majority shareholder in Ball Metaverse Research Partners, which provides the Index behind the world’s largest gaming and/or Metaverse-themed Exchange-traded fund (ETF), the Roundhill Ball Metaverse ETF, which can be found on the New York Stock Exchange (Ticker: METV)

Danish gaming industry gaining momentum

Although the blockchain-based game business is currently in its early stages of growth, an influx of investment and innovation could swiftly reverse the popular trends. This can be seen in the rise of the Danish games industry, which has more than doubled, according to the latest report from the Danish Producers’ Association. (From €‎192m in 2019 to €‎426m in 2020)2

Ushering in a new age?

The gaming studios that fueled this rise have very different business models. Even the products (games) designed by these studios exhibit a diverse range. Brightstar Studio, for example, combined blockchain and the NFT wave with a game in the massively multiplayer online (MMO) genre. This is a positive sign for those who want to usher in an age of gaming on the blockchain

Ground ready for a shift in ownership

Gaming on the blockchain, theoretically with scale, would enforce the transition of ownership from platforms such as Valve and Epic Games to the gaming community. The larger the community, the higher the stake. This could be the next big thing in the gaming world. An assessment of this could be made by analysing the amount of capital being pumped into the development of blockchain projects by VCs globally.

• VCs have invested a total of about $30 billion in blockchain businesses and projects.

• Some people believe venture funds have already raised or set aside another $100 billion to $200 billion. 3

Sega Corp., a gaming company that was formerly considered one of the most ardent supporters of blockchain gaming, is withdrawing from an area ravaged by the global crypto industry crisis, according to Takashi Mochizuki from Bloomberg. Although Sega remains open to getting more involved as the technology matures.

Co-Chief Operating Officer Shuji Utsumi told Bloomberg News earlier those month, on the 7th of July,

Fortune favours the brave

It should not come as a surprise to anyone that the first to move always gains an advantage. As far as gaming on the blockchain is concerned, there are more questions than answers available for one to make a staunch assessment. What can be said is that

• There is a market, and there is huge capital being invested, which is essential to any movement fueled by technology and innovation.

• The burning question to answer is: who can manage to align these resources already available with the talent that could fully draw out the potential of gaming on the blockchain?